Airbus presents 3D-printed mini aircraft

Airbus has introduced the world's first 3D-printed aircraft at this year’s Berlin air show.

Windowless, weighing in at just 21 kilos (46 pounds) and less than four metres (13 feet) long, the drone Thor resembles a large, white model airplane. Yet to the European aerospace giant Airbus, the small pilotless propeller aircraft is a pioneer that offers a taste of things to come—an aviation future when 3D printing technology promises to save time, fuel and money.

The little plane “flies beautifully, it is very stable,” said its chief engineer Gunnar Haase, who conducted Thor's inaugural flight last November near the northern German city of Hamburg. In Thor, the only parts that are not printed from a substance called polyamide are the electrical elements. The sky is not the limit for the technology—engineers also plan to use it in space.